For the purpose of enforcing submission to the cruel
mandates of the royal government, a reinforcement of the British army has
arrived at Boston; and General Gage is appointed Governor and Commander in
Chief. An armed fleet also occupies the harbor; and the whole port is closed
against all but British vessels. In short, the horrors of civil war seem
stalking, with rapid strides, towards our devoted country. The people have
resorted to the expedient of abolishing all the courts of justice under the new
regulations. In our shire towns the populace have collected in sufficient
numbers to bar the doors of the court houses, and prohibit the entrance of
judges and officers; the jurors are so intimidated, or zealous in the good
cause, that in general they refuse to take the oath, or to act in any manner
under the new modification of government; and the clerks of courts, who have
issued warrants by which the jurors are summoned, have in many instances been
compelled to acknowledge their contrition, and to publish in the newspapers, a
full recantation. At the regular term of the Court of Common Pleas at
Barnstable, in September last, I witnessed the following prompt procedure. A
body of about twelve hundred men assembled and obstructed the passage to the
court house door. The leader of this assemblage was Dr. Nathaniel Freeman, a
bold son of liberty, of Sandwich. Colonel James Otis, the chief justice of the
court, preceded by the sheriff, approached; and the venerable chief justice
demanded admission. Dr. Freeman replied that it was the intention of the people
to prevent the court's being opened to exercise those unconstitutional powers,
with which they are invested by Parliament. The chief justice, in his majesty's
name, commanded them to disperse, and permit the court to enter and proceed to
business. But his majesty's name had lost its power; it can have no charms with
the sons of liberty. The venerable judge then said he had acquitted himself of
his duty, and retired. This proceeding had been discussed and concerted prior
to the court term; and Colonel Otis himself, a stanch whig, was, it is
believed, not only apprized of, but actually acquiesced in, this bold measure.
This excellent man is now advanced to about 74 years in life; he is considered
as possessing sound sense and good judgment; and as being of the purest
integrity. He has been, for many years, the leading law character in the Old
Colony, and a member of his majesty's council of the province; but his
patriotism and zeal in the cause of our country have rendered him and his
family exceedingly odious to Governor Hutchinson, and other adherents of the
crown. Colonel Otis is the parent of that great champion, and able advocate for
liberty and the rights of man, James Otis, jun. Esq.
This gentleman is now in a melancholy state of mental
derangement; and all New England is deploring the irreparable loss of the
talents, eloquence, and patriotic services of this justly celebrated character.
Colonel Otis has two other sons, Joseph and Samuel Allen Otis who are active
whigs; and a daughter, married to James Warren, Esq. of Plymouth, who is now
President of our Provincial Congress. Though no judicial courts are in
existence, few crimes are committed; all is peace, order and regularity. The
people are their own rulers, and never was there less need of penal laws.
Trivial disputes are mutually adjusted or decided by reference; pecuniary
demands are suspended, and the simple recommendations of Congress, and of our
committees of safety, receive that cheerful acquiescence which is scornfully
denied to the coercive edicts emanating from despotic power. For
"Freedom has a thousand charms to
show,
That slaves, howe'er contented, never
know."
We have a Provincial Congress in session at Concord,
consisting of delegates elected by the people, and also a grand Continental
Congress at Philadelphia, composed of characters highly distinguished for
political wisdom, rigid patriotism and public virtue.
The public indignation is now greatly excited by the
following shameful transaction. The people from the country, whose business
called them into Boston, were suspected by the officers, of purchasing guns
from their soldiers. In order to furnish an opportunity to inflict punishment
and to raise occasion for a serious quarrel, Lieutenant Colonel Nesbit of the
forty-seventh regiment ordered a soldier to offer a countryman an old rusty
musket. A man from Billerica was caught by this bait and purchased the gun for
three dollars. The unfortunate man was immediately seized by Nesbit and
confined in the guard house all night. Early next morning they stripped him
entirely naked, covered him over with warm tar, and then with feathers, placed
him on a cart and conducted him through the streets as far as liberty-tree,
where the people began to collect in vast numbers, and the military, fearing
for their own safety, dismissed the man, and retreated to their barracks. The
party consisted of about thirty grenadiers with fixed bayonets, twenty drums
and fifes playing the Rogues' March, headed by the redoubtable Nesbit with a
drawn sword! What an honorable deed for a British field officer and grenadiers!
The selectmen of Billerica remonstrated with General Gage respecting this
outrage, but obtained no satisfaction.
SOURCE: James Thatcher, M.D., A Military Journal
during the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783, pp. 13-16
